Definition of "handful" []

• The amount that a hand can hold. (noun)
• A small, undefined number or quantity: only a handful of people on the street. (noun)
• Informal One that is difficult to control or handle: The hyperactive toddler is a real handful. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the early 90s he dated the housemate of my then-boyfriend and it was quite bizarre when he told me, when refering to bosoms, that "more than a handful is a waste"."
• "While professing unhappiness with what he called a handful of "mistakes," he held fast to his basic support of Bush's policies."
• ""There is no word more shameful in the Israeli lexicon of violence than the word 'handful,' " wrote Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the newspaper Yediot Aharonot."